The global number of nuclear-armed warheads is on the rise, according to a surveillance report released on Monday that comes out against the backdrop of hooded threat of the Kremlin to use some of its vast arsenal if the war in Ukraine escalates.

The report published by Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Monitor said that the nine nuclear-armed states in the world have a combined arsenal of 12,705 nuclear warheads at the beginning of this year.

Of those warheads, 9,440, or the equivalent of 138,000 Hiroshima bombs, make up available reserves for aircraft, missiles, ships and submarines, the report said.

The number of available reserves has increased from lowest of 9,227 warheads in 2017, according to the report.

“The war in Ukraine and nuclear threats from Vladimir Putin they are another clear reminder of the deep danger of living in a world where some states insist that their security must be based on capacity for widespread and indiscriminate nuclear violence, ”said Henriette Westhrin, general secretary of Norwegian citizen assistancewho produces and publishes a report, in a statement.

“We have ended up with luck instead of assumptions stabilizing effects of nuclear deterrence.

The possible use of nuclear weapons by Russian President Vladimir Putin has become a concern for members of the United States and NATO as they consider how to defend Ukraine without escalating the conflict with Russia.

A few days after invading Ukraine on February 24, Putin announced that he was putting his nuclear forces on “special combat readiness,” a higher state of alert reminiscent of some of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War. .

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